


in full bloom

by baecobz



Series: in every universe [5]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Ambiguous Age, Attempt at Humor, Crushes, Flowers, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Neighbors, Pining, lapslock, this was supposed 2 be less than 1k but. here we are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 04:52:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14742329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baecobz/pseuds/baecobz
Summary: and fine, so yukhei may have been watching (not in a creepy way, thank you) the cute guy who moved in next door. they hadn't had a chance to talk, mostly because his neighbor rarely seems to be home, and yukhei's usually fumbling around and breaking things in his room-- but there's a possibility that yukhei's clumsiness is the very thing that lets them meet.





	in full bloom

**Author's Note:**

> as per usual, this hasnt been proofread so if u see any mistakes/smthn that doesnt make sense please let me know!!!!

“so,” yukhei hums, scratching the back of his head. his neighbor stares back at him, clearly already tired of whatever he has to say. considering this is the first time they’ve met, let alone spoken to each other, it’s probably a new record for  _ people getting exhausted with yukhei’s jabbering _ . “lovely weather today, huh?”

the other boy just blinks at him.

after a moment, yukhei moves to speak up again, something like fear blossoming on his cheeks, but his neighbor just gives him a pointed look that yukhei figures translates something to  _ don’t open your mouth until i say so, i need a second to process how ridiculous this is _ . yukhei stays quiet, fidgeting in his spot (which is really uncomfortable, honestly) and waits.

he’s pretty sure there’s a thorn pressed against his thigh somewhere, and the image that puts in his mind is enough for him to start shifting around all over again. (yukhei was pretty sure that roses were the only flowers with thorns, anyways, so why did these-- these distinctly  _ not _ -roses have thorns on them?)

the last thing he wants is to have to limp back home and explain to his coach why he’s covered in scratches and tiny nicks.

what could he say,  _ i saw a cute guy and tripped into his flower bush _ ? something tells him that his coach isn’t going to be too pleased with that, and that’s not even including his teammates. if they got wind of any of this, there’s no way he’d be able to live it down, and then yukhei  _ definitely _ wouldn’t be able to show his face in public ever again.

said cute guy doesn’t even seem to be fazed by yukhei’s incessant fidgeting, instead just watching in frustration as yukhei desperately tries to entangle himself from the flowers.

“you’re just making it worse.” he says eventually, and if yukhei weren’t so preoccupied with avoiding death by coach or his cute neighbor (or, more embarrassingly, the flowers themselves), he’d probably be composing sonnets about how lovely the other’s voice is. instead, yukhei just stills, heartbeat fluttering against his chest like a million gardens blooming at once.

“i don’t want to die here.” is all yukhei manages to blurt out, and the cute neighbor stays quiet for another moment before giggling, and  _ wow _ . if yukhei hadn’t been able to stop and appreciate his voice, at the very least he can appreciate him giggling.

“i’m mark,” the neighbor hums, and any previous anger in his expression from earlier has faded completely by the time he adds, “and i’m guessing you’re my neighbor?”

it’s so, so nice to finally be able to put a name to a (stupidly cute) face, especially after the past few weeks of staring from his kitchen window, and yukhei’s busy repeating the name in his head before he remembers to choke out some sort of response.

“yup.” yukhei’s voice is, admittedly, a little squeaky when he replies, but mark must be an angel, because he doesn’t comment on it. “sorry i didn’t introduce myself earlier. i’m yukhei. or, shit, lucas? whichever is easier.”

“oh? are you chinese?” mark shifts his weight, and yukhei takes a second to appreciate all -- six feet? no, because  _ yukhei _ is six feet, and mark’s definitely a little shorter, but he’s still tall enough that yukhei could probably wrap his arm around his shoulder’s comfortably and  _ wow _ , he got sidetracked fast. mark is still watching him, amusement flickering in his eyes, and yukhei gulps; this isn’t the first time that he’s been reminded that he has a habit of answering questions long after socially acceptable.

“sorry, what did you say?”

“i asked if you’re chinese.” mark smiles. “i have a friend who is, so he talks to me in mandarin sometimes.”

“oh, yeah! i was born in hong kong, but,” yukhei shrugs, his single free arm gesturing wildly, “i’m here now.” hesitation worms its way into his lungs, heavy morning dew against his otherwise endlessly stilted commentary, “i mean, in the united states, not your flower bush.”

“i figured.” yukhei forgets how to breathe for a second because mark fixes him with the most beautiful grin, all bashful curves and hesitant angles. there’s a light blush on his cheeks, probably from the sun and the heat, and it makes yukhei think of spring and lilies. he smiles back. “which name do you prefer?”

“uh, i guess yukhei? but i go by lucas a lot now, since everyone here speaks english.” yukhei tries to act casual, like he’s not internally panicking over talking to the cutest guy in the world, but then he feels another flower crushing against his palm, an awkward reminder of his current predicament. he figures that he probably should’ve apologized earlier, because while mark doesn’t seem to be upset about his flowers anymore, it’s still an issue. it is, after all, better to apologize late than to never apologize at all, right? “hey, i’m-- i’m really sorry about your flowers. i was walking, and i guess i just got distracted.”

he tries to shift away from the bush, to somehow disentangle himself from his mess. of course, it doesn’t do much to help, and instead he finds his jeans snagged around some of the buds as he moves around. his knees are starting to ache a little, honestly, but he’s already moments away from locking himself in his room for the rest of his life simply because of the damage he’s already done to mark’s flowers, so he doesn’t mention it.

mark, however, doesn’t seem bothered in the slightest, instead bursting out into laughter at yukhei’s pained expression.

“dude, it’s fine,” mark snickers, quieting down for a moment if only to grin at yukhei again, “like, i was honestly a little mad before, but this is just too funny to watch.”

“what, you weren’t appeased because you fell for my charming good looks?” yukhei says it before he can even stop himself, but mark just laughs again, as soft and bright as everything else about him. five minutes into their first meeting and yukhei thinks it’s safe to say that he’s officially in love with this boy.

“well, yukhei, even if you’re pretty, my flowers are prettier.” he glances down to the mess of petals by yukhei’s feet and winces. “well, they  _ were _ .”

“i’m sorry,” yukhei says automatically, but mark waves it off.

“i told you, it’s cool. you do owe me some new flowers, though. those were from my mom.” yukhei frowns, starting another apology before mark cuts him off. “it’s  _ fine _ . really.”

“okay.” yukhei says eventually, fighting off the remnants of an apology budding against his throat, “can you help me out, though? i’m a little stuck.” he gives a helpless shuffle, and the bush wiggles along with his movements.

“now, why should i do that?”

mark is leaning forward, now, eyes crinkled like petals and all yukhei can think about is how gorgeous the other is. he nearly voices as much, but just barely reminds himself that you don’t just say things like that to people, especially when you’ve only just met and they’re asking you questions unrelated to how stunning they are.

“uh,” yukhei draws out the sound, eyes shifting around as though it’ll help him come up with something, “please?” mark looks like he might break then, like all yukhei needs to do is keep his puppy dog eyes out for another second, but then yukhei’s thinking about how cute mark looks when he’s concentrated, and all thoughts of persuasion are out the window.

mark huffs, shaking his head.

“i’ll pass.”

“can you do it just so you don’t have a dead body in your front lawn?”

“good point.” mark does this thing where he sort of hops forward, falling into a squat so he can investigate the damage. “how did you even get this tangled in there?” he mutters, and yukhei knows he’s not supposed to answer, but he shrugs anyways. mark tugs on some of the stems and leaves, hands curling around flowers and burning prints into yukhei’s skin.

he knows it’s hot out, but he seriously regrets having only worn a tank top and basketball shorts today.

mark’s fingertips only graze against his forearm for a second, but it’s enough to have yukhei tensing up and fidgeting once more. mark gives him an embarrassed smile, and the sight of it makes yukhei choke on his own breath.

“sorry, you’re really stuck. i’ll go grab some scissors, okay?” mark stands up quickly, and yukhei can barely catch the hint of a rising blush on the other boy’s cheeks before he disappears to run into his house. yukhei blinks after him, both relieved and terrified now that he’s gone.

he isn’t sure how much more his heart can take when mark is constantly leaning over him and mumbling confused notes and just existing so  _ close _ to him, but there’s still a sliver of doubt in yukhei’s mind, an ugly weed that grows and grows whispering that mark might leave him there, might be disgusted and embarrassed by the mess of a human yukhei is.

yukhei shoves the thought aside quickly, because that stupid voice in his head is just mean and jobless, and yukhei’s learned not to believe it by now.

thankfully, mark returns quickly, a pair of garden scissors carefully in hand as he jogs back. the scissors are pointed down, the way they’re taught to hold them in school, and for some reason it makes yukhei smile.

“stay still.” mark warns, and then he’s snipping at stems and flowers and keeps narrowly missing yukhei’s own clothes. he tries not to move, he really does, but he only lasts maybe half a minute before he’s whining.

“mark, mark, i gotta move, i’m starting to feel antsy.”

mark leans back on his heels, eyebrow raised, but he’s grinning at yukhei like he’s never seen anyone funnier in his life.

“you can move a bit, i’ll start again when you don’t feel so restless.” he drops the scissors onto the grass, moving to rest on his hands, and yukhei hesitates. “go for it, man. it might help get you loose, anyways.”

that’s all the confirmation yukhei needs before he’s squirming again, stretching his arms and trying to regain feeling in his legs. he’s able to move enough so that one of them is disentangled from the mess of flowers, but it means that he’s left staring at a lap full of clipped petals and leaves. he feels guilty all over again, tearing through his conscience like hail breaking into a greenhouse.

“you ready?” mark smiles, and it’s the one that yukhei decides to characterize as his  _ i’m really sweet and nice and probably a literal gift from god _ smile. he likes it a lot, but he refuses to declare it as his favorite until he gets to see each and every one of mark’s smiles firsthand. yukhei nods absentmindedly, sitting carefully so as not to ruin more than he already has, and lets mark snip away.

it only takes maybe a minute more before mark is holding out a hand and helping yukhei up. there is a slight height difference between them, just as yukhei had figured earlier, but mark is already tip toeing and pressing a quick kiss to yukhei’s cheek before he can dwell on it.

“huh?” yukhei says very smartly. (he  _ is _ smart, he reminds himself, it’s just that being around cute boys makes him nervous, so he forgets everything he’s ever learned and stops functioning.) “what was that for?”

“i felt like it.” mark mumbles, and the blush on his cheeks is  _ definitely _ from yukhei. that alone makes a rush of pride spread in his chest, and he stands a little taller.

“cool. i still owe you flowers, though, so i’m not gonna ask you out until i can pay you back.” the idea makes sense in yukhei’s head, but mark just gives him a confused smile and shrugs. he grabs a handful of the somehow-not-completely-destroyed flowers and presses them into yukhei’s chest, smile wide as it blooms across his cheeks.

“keep these, and just buy me some seeds or something.”

yukhei just nods his head dumbly, mind focused solely on the way mark’s hand feels so close to his heartbeat. he wonders if mark can feel how fast it’s beating, the way it’s about to ricochet past his bones and explode in a pile of petals. judging by the small, pleased laugh mark gives, yukhei figures that he can.

“i’ll buy you the best seeds.” yukhei promises, but he has no idea what constitutes a good seed. the most expensive ones, probably.

“you do that. i’ll be waiting.” mark gives what’s probably supposed to be a wink but instead looks more like a painful blink. he grimaces enough to steal a laugh from yukhei, and they both stand there for a moment just smiling stupidly at each other before yukhei’s phone rings.

he grabs it out of his pocket, groaning when he sees yuta’s name pop up on the screen.

“sorry, it’s my boss. i’ll, uh-- i’ll talk to you later? hopefully?”

“hopefully.” mark echoes, and he really does look hopeful. (yukhei’s heart warms all over again, like a dozen sunflowers have grown inside his ribs. mark seems to make him feel like that a lot, and it hasn’t even been a full day yet.) yukhei gives one last awkward wave before backtracking to his house, flowers held tight to his chest as he picks up his phone.

he makes a mental note to search where to find Good Flower Seeds and heads back inside with mark’s smile lingering in his mind.

if he spends the rest of his evening sparing glances out of his kitchen window and thinking about pretty boys with soft smiles, no one needs to know.

**Author's Note:**

> quick fun facts:  
> -yukhei doesnt speak korean in this bc he nvr lived there!! i think mark wld teach him bits though  
> -yuta's the manager at whatever company yukhei works at part time and he calls yukhei to check up on him a bunch bc hes always worried abt his fellow foreigner's wellbeing  
> -the chinese friend mark mentioned is kun!!!  
> -the flowers were not roses.. and there werent any thorns.... yukhei was just panicking  
> -yukhei ends up buying mark like a dozen different packets of seeds from a bunch of diff stores  
> -they plant most of them tgt, and mark insists on planting a few in yukhei's (very bare) garden  
> -yukhei nvr stops feeling soft and warm when marks around  
> talk to me abt markhei (or anything else rlly) on [curiouscat](http://curiouscat.me/6woojin) or [twitter](http://twitter.com/woo6in)!!  
> major thank u for reading, esp to those of u whove been keeping up w everything ive been posting in this series! u guys r so so sweet and im so grateful ahhh i rlly hope u enjoyed this!!  
> also, even more thanks to those of u leaving kudos/bookmarks/comments!!!! i rlly rlly appreciate it <33


End file.
